Article by
Barbados Today

Published on
December 18, 2016

Source: Antigua Observer: Inmates at Her Majesty’s Prison (HMP) may no longer feel the need to smuggle cellular phones as the Government of Antigua & Barbuda signals an intention to amend its prisons policies in order to establish a pay phone system.
Minister of Public Safety Steadroy “Cutie” Benjamin told OBSERVER media that “over the past few months”, prison authorities have observed that “many telephones are being smuggled into and out of the prison”, therefore the new policy would be “one way of placating prisoners”.Minister of Public Safety Steadroy “Cutie” Benjamin
He said that the current proposal would allow family members to work out a system with the administration at HMP, where calling cards would be purchased and kept under the control of the superintendent.
The system would also allow inmates to request the use of the cards to make calls to their families.
“There are occasions where they may want to call their mothers or their family members to wish them happy birthday or a happy Christmas and we think that the statistics have shown this has a positive effect on the prison population,” Benjamin said.